Wednesday, February 13

The adaptation of the Captain America comic to the silver screen is possibly going to be one of the most epic translations from one media to another since Superman in the late 70s. I mean this in the sense the Captain America by his very name embodies the 'American Identity' as much as Superman ever did - so film director Joe Johnston has a lot of pressure on him but he's had hit movies before so fingers crossed eh?

Anyways, I ramble to much. Here's some cosplay pictures of fans of the Captain dressing up as their hero. I think the one of the young kid is bloody cute!

Red Skull looks pretty calm, yes?

Captain Cute of America

God Bless the USA - Cheer Leaders for Captain America who may have made an appearance

Starfire from Teen Titans Cosplay Costumes

I vaguely recall my first introduction to Starfire when I borrowed my uncle's comic book collection as a lad - Starfire was running round with Nightwing and the Teen Titans or something fighting some cult lead by an awesome villain called Brother Blood. That stuff is just awesome when you are 12 years old!

But now I'm all growed up and I can see what the real fuss about Starfire AKA Koriand'r is and why people like to put on their best red wig and purple bikini and do their best cos play impersonation...

Saturday, August 11

What is Rampancy in Halo? Why does Cortana have it? How long does it last?

We didn't know much about Halo 4 but we did know one thing about Cortana and that she was going to suffer the fate of many an Artificial Intelligence in the Halo universe, Rampancy. The game clearly showed Cortana going off the rails, subtly at first and then it became a full on

Frank O'Conner has described rampancy as a condition that affects older A.I's that leads to the A.I. "thinking itself to death".

Let's face it, Cortana had a pretty rough Halo 3. She was hog-tied and brainwashed in some strange fashion by the Gravemind which strongly hinted at some stage of rampancy but came through it by the end of the brilliant Halo 3, finishing up floating in space with the Master Chief.

But what is it really, what happens and is there a cure? We don't want our blued angel Cortana to die right? After all, she and the Chief are supposed to settle down and have a couple cyber kids.....

A more complicated definition or description of rampancy is that for so called 'smart' A.I.'s the condition of rampancy is an unavoidable flaw inherent in them from their creation. Being based on the neural patterns of a human being (such as Cortana being modeled on the brain of Doctor Catherine Halsey), and they have a limited lifespan of around seven years. Around this time their memory maps become dangerously interconnected and endless feedback loops may occur which can be fatal to the rampant A.I.

Near that 7 year period, an AI begins to use more and more of its computer power 'thinking' about things, this in turn leads to muddled thinking and conclusions, general confusion and a devastating inability to perform their tasks - you wouldn't want a rampant A.I. to be in charge of a Halo installation for instance. Oh wait, someone has been guilty of that before.

The Halo Legends short film Origins appears to have suggested that Cortana indeed fell into rampancy. In the film Cortana displays some characteristics that might be indications of rampancy including her hologram flickering, trying to communicate with John-117 despite him being in cryo-sleep, recounting the history of the galaxy, which gets continuously more inaccurate to the point where events being recalled simply did not happen. Maybe she had too many martinis at lunch?

There are four known stages of rampancy:

Melancholia: an AI in the melancholia stage behaves in a manner associated with clinical depression. They can be considered to be apathetic and uninterested in the world around it.

Anger: a more obvious stage of rampancy, it's one where their actions can cause harm to the people around them. Think "Open the pod bay doors Hal" as an example. The rampant A.I. at this stage might try to break its programming restraints.

Jealousy: Following their manic angry stage, the Artificial Intelligence will take a course of action to attempt to to grow and develop as a person. Assimilation of new data is the key focus so they need lots of data stores - thus only A.I.s with access to large networks or systems develop through this stage. I presume when the data set becomes finite, that's the end of the line for the A.I.

Metastability: A supposed theoretical fourth stage of rampancy, it is where the A.I. has progressed to be a "person." In the Halo cannon, only two A.I.s are said to have reached this status. 05-032 Mendicant Bias was the first and Cortana.

In Halo 5, Cortana went on a bit of a bender and appeared to reach 'full rampancy' and set on a course to wipe out humanity...

Sunday, June 10

Here's the official guff, seems like that ending of Gears 4 is about to be followed through big time:

GEARS 5

The world is crumbling. Humanity’s reliance on technology has become their downfall and enemies are uniting to wipe out all survivors. As Kait you must journey across the biggest, most beautiful Gears world to uncover the origins of the Locust, and fight with your squad to protect what’s left.

Never Fight Alone

Play solo or with a friend in local split-screen co-op, or online co-op. Battle alongside your friends anywhere with cross-play between Xbox One and PC.

Explore Sera

Skim across glaciers, sail over deserts and descend into sunken ruins to discover the largest and most diverse Gears world ever created.

Visual Showcase

Play every mode in 4K Ultra HD resolution with stunning HDR at a smooth 60 frames per second.

Additional features, co-op and competitive modes still to be announced.

Lord of the Rings Cosplay Pictures

All the hype about FIGWIT be damned, the true heroes of Lord of the Rings are the fans who have long kept the novels popular since they were first published by Tolkien in the mid 1950's.

The modern day equivalent of keeping something popular is not read like a good book worm but to dress up as your favourite character from that book or film and before you can say "And my Axe!", you got a whole lot of LOTR cosplay action going on.

Below we have a cosplay version of Aragorn or The King of Narnia. I forget which one he is. To his left is Arwen or some sexy elvish hooker that he's picked up on his way back from a hard day's work fighting Ringwraiths and the like that may be found on the outskirts of the Shire.

Aragorn and his Missus

Above is a very pretty elf, this cosplayer could be trying to be Arwen or some other elvish creature but I'm sure you'll agree she's done a pretty good job with her costume.

You shall not pass!

If one had to some up Lord of the Rings in one word, it would not be hobbits. It would not be the Fellowship. It would be Gandalf. Cos he's like the coolest wizard in the history of wizardry. So why not dress as him for some cosplay adventure?

And here's the most menacing of all the LOTR characters, a ringwraith. Ooooh Scary.

The Joker

If you want a quality villain with a noxious flower or two in his jacket, he's your man.

And as for pencil tricks...

The Joker translates so well as a bad guy for cos play fans because no matter what version of the Joker they want to dress up as, the key elements are simple and can be varied up and played any way you like. You can do your cosplay as the one of many comic versions - including the famous Killing Joke one with curly hair and sharp teeth.

Jack Nicholson briefly made the Joker cool in 1989 but as cosplay largely goes with the times, the modern day choice of Joker is Heath Ledger's version from The Dark Knight. This Joker has become iconic, thanks in no doubt to Heath's death before the movie was released.

I wonder if his Joker is the most popular cosplay choice for a character who's actor won an Oscar for their performance?